Engineering

Photovoltaic Systems I
Part I

Original Presentation by J. M. Pearce, 2006

Updated by J.M. Pearce and R. Andews, 2010
Email: profpearce@gmail.com
 Outline Part I
• What is a photovoltaic system
– Cell, Module, and Array
– BOS
• Structure
• Electronics
– PV System Design Basics
– Hybrid Systems
The Cell, The Module
and The Array
Balance of System
(BOS)
• The BOS typically
contains;
– Structures for mounting the
PV arrays or modules
– Power conditioning
equipment that massages
and converts the do
electricity to the proper
form and magnitude
required by an alternating
current (ac) load.
– Sometimes also storage
devices, such as batteries,
for storing PV generated
electricity during cloudy
days and at night.
 Three Types of
Systems
• Stand-alone systems
– Systems which use photovoltaics
technology only, and are not
connected to a utility grid.
• Hybrid systems
– Systems which use photovoltaics and
some other form of energy, such as
diesel generation or wind.
• Grid-tied systems
– Systems which are connected to a
utility grid.
 Stand Alone PV System
• Water pumping
 Examples of Stand Alone
PV Systems
• PV panel on a
water pump in
Thailand

• PV powers stock
water pumps in
remote locations in
Wyoming . Note that
battery storage is not
used in this case, as
the solar energy is
stored in the form of
pumped water.
 Examples of Stand Alone
PV Systems
• Communications facilities can
be powered by solar technologies:
even in remote, rugged terrain.
Also, if a natural or human-caused
disaster disables the utility grid,
solar technologies can maintain
power to critical operations
Examples of Stand Alone
PV Systems
• This exhibit, dubbed
"Solar
Independence", is a
4-kW system used
for mobile
emergency power.
• while the workhorse
batteries that can
store up to 51 kW-
hrs of electricity are
housed in a portable
trailer behind the
flag.
• The system is the
largest mobile power
unit ever built
Examples of Stand Alone
PV Systems
• Smiling child
stands in
front of
Tibetan
home that
uses 20 W
PV panel for
electricity
• PV panel on
rooftop of
rural
residence
Hybrid PV System
 Examples of Hybrid
PV Systems
• Ranching the
Sun project
in Hawaii
generates
175 kW of PV
power and 50
kW of wind
power from
the five
Bergey 10
kW wind
turbines
 Examples of Hybrid
PV Systems

• A fleet of
small
turbines;
• PV panels in
the
foreground
Examples of Hybrid
PV Systems
• PV / diesel hybrid
power system - 12
kW PV array, 20
kW diesel genset
• This system
serves as the
master site for the
"top gun" Tactical
Air Combat
Training System
(TACTS) on the
U.S. Navy's Fallon
Range.
 Personal Grid Tied
PV system
• There are two types of Grid Tied PV systems
Net Meter Two-Meter
Net-Metered PV System
 Two- meter Grid Tie
Systems
• At the moment, the boom in PV
installations is led by government
subsidies, which will pay above
market rates for energy generated
using renewable energies
• In areas where subsidies are
available, it is more economical to
sell all the generated electricity to
the grid, and buy back inexpensive
energy to run the house
Examples of Grid Tied
Systems

• National
Center for
Appropriate
Technology
Headquarters
Examples of Grid Tied
Systems

• The
world's
largest
resident
ial PV
project
 Industrial Grid Tied
PV system
• These systems are designed to generate
revenue, currently subsidized by government
incentives and will have a one directional meter
to sell their electricity onto the grid.

Industrial Roof top solar array

14.2 MW PV farm at
Nellis Air Force Base
 Integrating Distributed
Generation onto the Grid
• Grid-tied systems use the grid as storage,
reducing the demands of fossil fuelled
generators when the sun is shining.
 Grid Scale Storage
Solutions
• Large scale storage can allow solar to act
like a dispatchable power source
• Pumped water storage is one of the most
proven methods of energy storage to date
 Designing a PV
System
1. Determine the load (energy, not power)
• You should think of the load as being supplied by
the stored energy device, usually the battery, and
of the photovoltaic system as a battery charger.
Initial steps in the process include:
1. Calculating the battery size, if one is needed
2. Calculate the number of photovoltaic
modules required
3. Assessing the need for any back-up energy of
flexibility for load growth

Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Systems: A

Handbook of Recommended Design Practices
details the design of complete photovoltaic
systems.
 Determining Your Load
• The appliances and devices (TV's,
computers, lights, water pumps etc.) that
consume electrical power are called loads.
• Important : examine your power
consumption and reduce your power needs
as much as possible.
• Make a list of the appliances and/or loads
you are going to run from your solar
electric system.
• Find out how much power each item
consumes while operating.
– Most appliances have a label on the back which
lists the Wattage.
– Specification sheets, local appliance dealers, and
the product manufacturers are other sources of
information.
 Determining your
Loads II
• Calculate your AC loads (and DC if
necessary)
• List all AC loads, wattage and hours
of use per week (Hrs/Wk).
• Multiply Watts by Hrs/Wk to get
Watt-hours per week (WH/Wk).
• Add all the watt hours per week to
determine AC Watt Hours Per
Week.
• Divide by 1000 to get kW-hrs/week
 Determining the
Batteries
• Decide how much storage you would like your
battery bank to provide (you may need 0 if grid
tied)
– expressed as "days of autonomy" because it is based on
the number of days you expect your system to provide
power without receiving an input charge from the solar
panels or the grid.
• Also consider usage pattern and critical nature of
your application.
• If you are installing a system for a weekend home,
you might want to consider a larger battery bank
because your system will have all week to charge
and store energy.
• Alternatively, if you are adding a solar panel array
as a supplement to a generator based system, your
battery bank can be slightly undersized since the
generator can be operated in needed for
recharging.
 Batteries II
• Once you have determined your
storage capacity, you are ready to
consider the following key
parameters:
– Amp hours, temperature multiplier,
battery size and number
• To get Amp hours you need:
1. daily Amp hours
2. number of days of storage capacity
( typically 5 days no input )
– 1 x 2 = A-hrs needed
– Note: For grid tied – inverter losses
 Temperature Multiplier
Temp oF  Temp oC Multiplier
80 F 26.7 C 1.00
70 F 21.2 C 1.04
60 F 15.6 C 1.11
50 F 10.0 C 1.19
40 F 4.4 C 1.30
30 F -1.1 C 1.40
20 F -6.7 C 1.59
Select the closest multiplier for the average ambient
winter temperature your batteries will experience.
 Determining Battery
Size
• Determine the discharge limit for the
batteries ( between 0.2 - 0.8 )
– Deep-cycle lead acid batteries should never be
completely discharged, an acceptable discharge
average is 50% or a discharge limit of 0.5
• Divide A-hrs/week by discharge limit and
multiply by “temperature multiplier”
• Then determine A-hrs of battery and # of
batteries needed - Round off to the next
highest number.
– This is the number of batteries wired in parallel
needed.
 Total Number of Batteries
Wired in Series
• Divide system voltage ( typically
12, 24 or 48, controlled by inverter
selected ) by battery voltage.
– This is the number of batteries wired
in series needed.
• Multiply the number of batteries in
parallel by the number in series –
• This is the total number of
batteries needed.
 Determining the
Number of PV Modules
• First find the Solar Irradiance in your area
• Irradiance is the amount of solar power
striking a given area and is a measure of
the intensity of the sunshine.
• PV engineers use units of Watts (or
kiloWatts) per square meter (W/m2) for
irradiance.
• For detailed Solar Radiation data available
for your area in the US:
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/
 How Much Solar
Irradiance Do You Get?
 Solar Radiation
• On any given day the solar radiation varies
continuously from sunup to sundown and
depends on cloud cover, sun position and
content and turbidity of the atmosphere.
• The maximum irradiance is available at
solar noon which is defined as the
midpoint, in time, between sunrise and
sunset.
• Insolation (now commonly referred as
irradiation) differs from irradiance because
of the inclusion of time. Insolation is the
amount of solar energy received on a given
area over time measured in kilowatt-hours
per square meter squared (kW-hrs/m2) -
this value is equivalent to "peak sun
hours".
 Peak Sun Hours
• Peak sun hours is defined
as the equivalent number
of hours per day, with solar
irradiance equaling 1,000
W/m2, that gives the same
energy received from
sunrise to sundown.
• Peak sun hours only make
sense because PV panel
power output is rated with
a radiation level of
1,000W/m2.
• Many tables of solar data
are often presented as an
average daily value of peak
sun hours (kW-hrs/m2) for
each month.
 Calculating Energy
Output of a PV Array
• Determine total A-hrs/day from load analysis
and increase by 20% for battery losses then
divide by the area's peak sun hours to get
total Amps needed for array
• Then divide your Amps by the Peak Amps
produced by your solar module
– You can determine peak amperage if you divide
the module's wattage by the peak power point
voltage
• Determine the number of modules in each
series string needed to supply necessary
DC battery Voltage
• Then multiply the number (for A and for V)
together to get the amount of power you
need
– P=IV [W]=[A]x[V]
 Charge Controller

• Charge controllers are included in most PV

systems to protect the batteries from
overcharge and/or excessive discharge.
• The minimum function of the controller is to
disconnect the array when the battery is fully
charged and keep the battery fully charged
without damage.
• The charging routine is not the same for all
batteries: a charge controller designed for
lead-acid batteries should not be used to
control NiCd batteries.
• Size by determining total Amp max for your
array
 Wiring
• Selecting the correct size and type of
wire will enhance the performance and
reliability of your PV system.
• The size of the wire must be large
enough to carry the maximum current
expected without undue voltage losses.
• All wire has a certain amount of
resistance to the flow of current.
• This resistance causes a drop in the
voltage from the source to the load.
Voltage drops cause inefficiencies,
especially in low voltage systems ( 12V
or less ).
• See wire size charts here:
www.solarexpert.com/Photowiring.html
 Inverters
• For AC grid-tied systems
you do not need a battery
or charge controller if you
do not need back up
power –just the inverter.
• The Inverter changes the
DC current stored in the
batteries or directly from
your PV into usable AC
current.
– To size increase the Watts
expected to be used by
your AC loads running
simultaneously by 20%
 Books for Designing
a PV System
• Steven J. Strong and
William G. Scheller, The
Solar Electric House:
Energy for the
Environmentally-
Responsive, Energy-
Independent Home, by
Chelsea Green Pub Co;
2nd edition, 1994.
• This book will help with
the initial design and
contacting a certified
installer.
 Books for the DIYer
• If you want to do
everything yourself also
consider these
resources:
– Richard J. Komp, and John
Perlin, Practical
Photovoltaics:  Electricity
from Solar Cells, Aatec
Pub., 3.1 edition, 2002.
(A layman’s treatment).
– Roger Messenger and
Jerry Ventre, Photovoltaic
Systems Engineering, CRC
Press, 1999.
(Comprehensive
specialized engineering of
PV systems).
 Photovoltaics Design and
Installation Manual
• Photovoltaics: Design &
Installation Manual by SEI
Solar Energy International, 2004
• A manual on how to design,
install and maintain a
photovoltaic (PV) system.
• This manual offers an overview
of photovoltaic electricity, and a
detailed description of PV system
components, including PV
modules, batteries, controllers
and inverters. Electrical loads
are also addressed, including
lighting systems, refrigeration,
water pumping, tools and
appliances.
Solar Photovoltaics
is the Future
 Acknowledgements
• This is the second in a series of
presentations created for the solar
energy community to assist in the
dissemination of information about solar
photovoltaics.
• This work was supported from a grant
from the Pennsylvania State System of
Higher Education.
• The author would like to acknowledge
assistance in creation of this
presentation from Heather Zielonka,
Scott Horengic and Jennifer Rockage.